


drive | ON HOLD

by prfctlilia



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-08 10:59:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17980070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prfctlilia/pseuds/prfctlilia
Summary: While driving to LA, TJ and Cyrus meet after Cyrus has car troubles, and do to a series of seemingly unfortunate events, the two wind up seeing a lot of eachother. (IN THIS AU, ALL CHARACTERS ARE OVER 18.)





	1. one.

“Shit. Shit shit shit. Fuck,” Cyrus Goodman tried to turn the car on again, but it wouldn’t budge. It was dark, he had his phone flashlight shining in his eyes from its place, propped up between the dashboard and the front window of his car. He had been sitting there for five minutes at this point, aimlessly trying to get his car, which had suddenly broken down, to start up again. He was on his way to Los Angeles, California from Shadyside, Utah. After spending the year at Princeton, his first choice college, it was nice to finally come back to the West Coast. In fact, Cyrus was almost too excited to be back for the summer, as normal as it was for him to be excited to see his family and friends after almost an entire year away, Cyrus felt almost too relieved to be away from the East Coast. His entire family was in Utah, and his best friends were all in California. When Cyrus got his letter from Princeton, there was no debate, he was going. Even if it meant moving across the country, and leaving his best friends, Buffy Driscoll, Jonah Beck and Andi Mack.

Cyrus glanced out the window, in the dark of the night, it was hard to make out anything that was beside the long, abandoned road in the middle of nowhere. All Cyrus knew was that that night was uncharacteristically rainy, especially for a summer in Utah, or Nevada, or wherever the hell he was at the moment. He reached for his phone to call AAA, and realized that it was 1:28 in the morning, the odds of them being able to get there, at that hour, in that remote location, were slim. Cyrus called anyway, and when he got no answer, he sighed and closed his eyes. He had been charging his phone for the entire drive so far, and he was still five hours away from LA. He mentally slapped himself for not leaving at noon, like he had planned. If he had left at noon he would’ve been there by now. But instead, he let his mom take him for an early dinner and ended up leaving Shadyside around seven.

Cyrus picked up his phone and texted Jonah, who was waiting for him at his apartment. Jonah was a sophomore in college, rising junior. He lived with a boy that had been his on-campus roommate, and after their freshman year they found an apartment together not too far from the school. His roommate, although they had never met, Cyrus knew was a guitar player named Zales Kennedy. As much as Jonah talked about Zales, the boy seemed to be a mystery. He changed his plans to go to NYU on a full scholarship to going to UCLA, moving himself as far away from his entire family as he possibly could without leaving the country.

Then there was Andi, she was Cyrus’ first friend in school, they had known each other for as long as they could remember. Andi had gone through a lot of family drama in middle school, and had “dated” Jonah. Andi had a mystery girlfriend in California, that Jonah and Buffy had both met, but didn’t know much about. Just that she was pretty, blonde, and a lesbian.

Last, there was Buffy Driscoll, she went to UCLA and was a math major, but Cyrus hadn’t really paid too much attention to the details. He knew that Buffy was only there for the basketball. Buffy had a boyfriend on the boys basketball team, but Andi and Jonah had both never met him, they didn’t even know his name. Just that Buffy talked about beating him, and referred to him exclusively as “from the party,” or “party boy.”

After fifteen minutes with no response, Cyrus had assumed that Jonah was asleep. He hadn’t expected Cyrus to be there until at least six, anyway, so Cyrus couldn’t blame him. As Cyrus closed his eyes, out of both stress and exhaustion, bright headlights made him suddenly alert.

Cyrus watched the car, a grey truck, stop behind him. He mumbled a few profanities under his breath as a tall figure emerged from the car, and knocked on the window of Cyrus’ car. The tall boy stepped back a bit as Cyrus stepped out of his car, “You need help there?” The unfamiliar voice asked.

“I- Uh, my car just kinda, uh, stopped.” Cyrus stumbled over his words, he had never been the best at talking to new people, especially at night on a dark, rainy, secluded road.  
The taller of the boys let out a little chuckle, “I can see that.”

Cyrus looked up at the boy and gave him an unamused stare. He took note of the difference in their height. The tall boy, who Cyrus thought had green eyes, though he wasn’t sure because of how dark it was in the night, was at least six or seven inches taller than him.

“So… Do you have a name, Mr. My Car Just Kinda Stopped?”

Cyrus reluctantly said his name, wiping rain off his face as he spoke.

“Alright, cool.” The taller boy said, “TJ. TJ Kippen.”

Cyrus smiled a bit at the boys last name, Kippen sounded like some sort of bunny or soft woodland creature, the boy looked a bit like he was going to stomp on him at any given moment. “What does TJ stand for?”  
“That.” TJ said, turning to face Cyrus’ car, “Is none of your business.”

Cyrus rolled his eyes, “Fine, then I guess your name is Toe Jam.”

TJ laughed, “My sisters used to call me that.” He rested his hand on top of Cyrus’ car, “She’s dead. The car, I mean. I’m assuming you already called AAA, so if you want some help pushing her off to the side and a ride to the hotel down the street, I can give you one. And a ride back here so you can get in touch with AAA and fix your car Tomorrow, or, well, later Today. If you want, of course. I’m heading that way anyway, so…”

Cyrus starred at the boy, “You’re not going to kill me, right?” He asked, TJ laughed.

“No, I’m just a soft cuddly basketball boy on his way to go visit his big sister in LA for the summer,” TJ laughed, “I’m not a murderer.”

Cyrus stared at TJ, “You play basketball?”

“Is that so shocking?” TJ said, “Do you have a thing against basketball?”

“No,” Cyrus replied, shaking his head furiously, “My best friend plays basketball. I think it’s a cool sport. I guess.”

“So, do you want that ride or not?” TJ asked, locking his eyes on the shorter boy. Something about him seemed familiar, like he had seen a picture of him on Instagram, or something.  
“I mean,” Cyrus glanced at his car and then at TJ, “I don’t see how this night could get better so, why the hell not.”


	2. two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> never ended up proofreading this, also sorry it took forever. since i'm shadowbanned on twitter (prfctlilia! go follow me if u want) i'm probably gonna update here more until i can get back to updating my new au, date. if you want more info on that, go check out my twitter. i'll prob follow back. unless you have autocaps on. then turn them off. thank you! enjoy this chapter and have a nice day!  
> \- ky

“You just forgot to get gas. How do you just forget to get gas? What the hell, TJ?” Cyrus shouted as the car slowed to a stop.

“Well, I was more concerned about getting to the hotel, and I was trying to get service in this stupid ass fucking region of noth-” TJ cut himself off as he noticed Cyrus glaring at him from the passenger seat of his car.

“I should’ve flown. I should’ve left my goddamn car at my moms house and flown.” Cyrus rambled, TJ opened his mouth to cut him off, but Cyrus just kept talking. “But no! I had to decide to drive! Take my car because god forbid I had to ask a favor from Jonah, even though we broke up, like, three years ago. It’ll be fun alone time! I can listen to podcasts and music! I can stop and grab snacks! Well, look at that Cy, look where you wound up. In the car of some scarily tall blonde basketball playing het that didn’t think to get any goddamn gas, and is probably gonna end up murdering you. Nice one, Cyrus, really nice.”

TJ sighed, “I’m gonna act like I’m not offended by any of that, because there are more pressing matters at hand.” He said as he rested his hand on the top of his steering wheel, “But I just want you to know, I’m very hurt. I can’t believe you’d call me a het.”

“So you’re not straight?” Cyrus asked, his focus shifting to the new topic.

TJ rolled his eyes, “No, I’m not. But that’s beside the point, the hotel is like a mile away. We can walk there, if you want.”

Cyrus started laughing, “You’re funny. Really funny. Glad I got stuck with a comedian.”

“I’m not kidding, but okay.” TJ replied, “If you wanna stay here and sleep in the car, that’s fine by me. I’m just saying we can take our bags with clean clothes and shit and walk to the hotel, stay there for the night and then walk back here in the morning, call someone to fill up the gas and I could drive you back to your mysterious dead vehicle, and we could both go on our merry way. After that, you’d never have to see me, the scarily tall blonde basketball playing homo that didn’t think to get any goddamn gas, and promises he won’t end up murdering you.”

“Did you really just quote word for word what I said.”

“Yeah, what’re you gonna do about it? Sue me for plagiarism?” TJ laughed, staring at the shorter boy, studying his face.  
Cyrus looked unamused, “You’re not funny.” He snapped, it was late, past usual bedtime and he was getting grouchy. Even as an adult, he still gave himself a bedtime. He had a lot of early classes, and after staying up late most nights of high school, he wanted to have a somewhat decent sleep schedule. As impossible as that tended to be. “I told you we were driving in circles.”

“Well, that’s not my fault!” TJ exclaimed, “Blame the stupid GPS.”

“No.” Cyrus replied, “If you had just listened to me, we’d be at the hotel by now.”

TJ started to argue again, but Cyrus cut him off. “But no! You had to be right!”

“The GPS was telling me to go that way-”

“AND YOU DIDN’T QUESTION IT?” Cyrus screamed, his voice cracking as he spoke. “You drove around in circles fifteen fucking times and didn’t fucking question it? This is why I hate basketball players. Except Buffy. I love Buffy.”

“Who the fuck is Buffy?”

Cyrus rolled his eyes, “That’s beside the point Mr. Chicken.”

“Did you just call me a-” TJ paused, and then shook his head. “Nevermind, what’s the point, then?”

“That we are stuck in your dumb car in the middle of a dumb abandoned road in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the RAIN and we don’t know what we’re gonna do and that is very scary.”

“I already said we can walk to th-”

“I am NOT walking in the rain.”

“It’s not that far, it’s less than a mile,” TJ argued, “You can hang your stuff to dry in your room and have privacy and shit. Then tomorrow, we can meet up again at the front of the hotel and walk back or figure out how we’re getting back to our cars, and like I said before, we’ll never have to see eachother again.”

Cyrus crossed his arms for a moment and glared at TJ, before reluctantly muttering “Fine,” and getting out of the car, stepping into the rainy night.


	3. three.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all wildin if you think i proofread this lol

The two boys were shivering as they entered the hotel, after the long walk they had just undergone, they were both exhausted and cold. As TJ and Cyrus entered the hotel, the latter of the two noted the time on the small clock propped up on the service desk. 3:15 AM.

“It’s a quarter after three,” Cyrus said.

“Saying everything we mean,” TJ quoted in a singsong voice. “That’s the name of my favorite song. It’s by Ba-”

“Bazzi. I know.” Cyrus said, and then the two walked up to the desk. “Can we both get a room. Two rooms. Not one.”

The lady behind the counter looked exhausted and scared, “I-I’m sorry, we only have one room. It has two queen sized beds, though.”

TJ and Cyrus exchanged a glance, neither excited about the news, but neither completely against it either, as it seemed that there was no other option. They hadn’t walked in all that rain for nothing. “I guess… We’ll take it?” TJ said, glancing uneasily from Cyrus to the lady behind the counter. Cyrus reluctantly nodded his head in agreement as the lady began to type something on her computer.

A few short, yet all too long, minutes later, the boys were headed awkwardly up to their room. Both boys refusing to even dare to glance at the other, and simply just staying silent. When they reached their floor after an uncomfortably long elevator ride, Cyrus turned to TJ. “Do you want to shower first, or should I?”

TJ shrugged in response, “I don’t know. Whichever you wanna do, I guess. I don’t really mind. I’ve kinda had enough of water for one night.”

“I feel icky. I wanna shower.” Cyrus said, taking himself and his backpack into the bathroom, both soaked. TJ began taking things out of his bag and putting them on the desk in the room, he had made sure to clear out any paper things, like books, before coming. He had wrapped his chargers and laptop in his clothes. Luckily, by some act of god, the majority of the clothes were dry.

About fifteen minutes later, Cyrus emerged from the bathroom, his hair wet and kind of sticking to his face a bit, his red t-shirt slightly damp, and his grey and black plaid pajama bottoms being far too long for his legs. “This room is so damn cold,” He muttered as he wandered to his bed, turning out the lights.

“Some of us are in the middle of something, sir.” TJ said while rummaging through his bag. Cyrus just grunted from under the covers in response.

“I’m cold,” Cyrus whined, the blankets he had wrapped himself muffled his voice a bit as he pressed his face farther into one of the pillows on his bed.

TJ tossed a hoodie at Cyrus, “Wear it. I don’t like to sleep in a bunch of layers, I get warm easily, but you seem to be the opposite. Cyrus sat himself up and stared at him, before glancing down at the hoodie. He instantly recognized the familiar red color and University of Utah logo he had grown up around.

“You play basketball for Utah,” Cyrus murmured. “I’m from Utah.”

TJ was now focused on the tired boy with wet hair that was holding his red hoodie. “Hm. Me too. My sister goes to UCLA, I’m just going to visit her.”

“All my friends go to UCLA. You know how they say you won’t see anyone from high school after high school? Well, my friends see each other all the time. I don’t see them often, though. I go to Princeton.”

“Wow. An Ivy League Man, fascinating.” TJ said, coming off as sarcastic to Cyrus, despite the fact that TJ was genuinely intrigued by Cyrus.

Cyrus, the stranger he had met a few hours ago. 

Cyrus, the cute stranger he met a few hours ago that he was now sharing a hotel room with.

Cyrus, the cute stranger he met a few hours ago that was now pulling on TJ’s red University of Utah hoodie, in the hotel room they were sharing for the night.

“This is warm and cozy. Thank you, Teej.” Cyrus said groggily, letting himself flop onto the bed so he was completely laying down, and staring at the ceiling. As his eyelids fluttered shut, he rambled a bit more. “Can I call you Teej? It sounds cool. Basketball is cool, too. I don’t know much about it, though. I’ve been to about a million games and I don’t know like, anything, it all just kinda flies over my head.”

TJ laughed at Cyrus a bit, and smiled. “Yeah, you can call me Teej, if you want.” He said as he got up from the desk chair and walked over to his bed, which was closer to the window in the room. He had changed when Cyrus was showering. “Goodnight, Cyrus.”

Cyrus didn’t reply, he had already fallen asleep.

TJ didn’t fall asleep so easily, he stared at the ceiling of the room and thought about his parents, his little sister, Libby, and how the hell he was going to ask Amber if he could move in with her, so he could move to LA. After about an hour or so of staring at the ceiling, it had been around five in the morning, he finally fell asleep.


End file.
